7 November, 2018 06:30

Good morning Legionnaires and veterans advocates, today is Wednesday, November 7, 2018 which is Notary Public Day, Hug a Bear Day, National Eating Healthy Day and (finally) marks the end of the voting season so you can return to commercials about Tide Pods and various soft drinks and not two people bashing each other incessantly.This Day in Legion History:

Nov. 7, 2000: Texas and Alabama Air National Guard veteran George W. Bush is elected 43rd president of the United States. A member of John R. Burkett-Beverly E. Miller American Legion Post 77 in Houston, he leads within his first year the nation’s military response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and serves as commander-in-chief for Operations Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.

This Day in History:

On this day in 1916, Montana suffragist Jeannette Rankin is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the first woman in the history of the nation to win a seat in the federal Congress.

1940: Only four months after its completion, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State suffers a spectacular collapse. When it opened in 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was the third-longest suspension bridge in the world. Built to replace the ferry system that took commuters from Tacoma across the Tacoma Narrows to the Gig Harbor Peninsula, the bridge spanned 2,800 feet and took three years to build. To save cost, the principle engineer, Leon Moisseiff, designed the bridge with an unusually slender frame that measured 39 feet and accommodated just two vehicular lanes.

1964: The latest U.S. intelligence analysis claims that Communist forces in South Vietnam now include about 30,000 professional full-time soldiers, many of whom are North Vietnamese. Before this, it was largely reported that the war was merely an internal insurgent movement in South Vietnam opposed to the government in Saigon. This information discredited that theory and indicated that the situation involves North and South Vietnam.

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Defense News: Democrats’ big night brings big questions for defense policyBy: Joe Gould and Leo Shane III 6 hours ago AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to Facebook22Share to TwitterShare to Google+Share to EmailShare to More10
WASHINGTON — Democrats won the U.S. House in convincing fashion in Tuesday’s midterm elections, promising to shake up defense policy in the coming year and raising the possibility of tumultuous impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
With control of the lower chamber, Democrats will regain powerful oversight and subpoena powers they can use to investigate the Trump administration. For defense, Democrats will also assume leadership of the House Armed Services and House Appropriations committees, presenting a formidable challenge to Trump’s plans for defense spending.
“Today is about more than Democrats and Republicans. It’s about restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is expected to become the new majority leader when the next Congress convenes in January.
“Tomorrow will be a new day in America.”
For Republicans, the loss of one chamber of Congress was somewhat blunted by a better-than-expected performance in the Senate. The party secured a majority of seats in the upper chamber before midnight, ensuring that Democrats will still have limited ability to slow Trump’s nominations and to override any potential vetoes.
But GOP defense hawks face a difficult road for defense spending increases next year because Democrats have promised they will prioritize domestic spending in the face of attacks from Trump and his supporters.
In addition, the White House has already outlined plans for a $33 billion reduction in anticipated defense spending levels for fiscal 2020.
But all of that assumes that Congress will be able to agree upon any defense budget at all. Lawmakers must reach a bipartisan, bicameral deal to ease statutory budget caps in fiscal 2020. With control of the House, Democrats are expected to press even harder to pursue equal increases between the defense and non-defense sides of the budget, raising the specter of lengthy impasses and government shutdowns.
And that’s if they can even broach the topic. Pelosi and other Democrats have vowed aggressive oversight of Trump’s past business dealings, his connection to Russian operatives, and a host of other potential Oval Office scandals that could upend any chance of regular order in the halls of Congress.
The House Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., is now poised to become the panel’s chairman. He has vowed tougher scrutiny of military personnel and planning matters, pointedly criticized the fiscal 2019 defense budget of $716 billion as too high and promised to oppose new nuclear weapons spending.
“The Trump White House, by and large, has let the Pentagon have a lot of free rein,” Smith said. “I think that’s inappropriate, and I think there is a real role for Congress to step in where the White House has stepped back to make sure our military is not engaged in ways” contrary to American values or interests.
Smith has said as chairman, he would push for Congress to reassert its oversight role, particularly in places like Niger and Yemen, where U.S. involvement is little understood by the American public. He wants the committee “actively engaged” in fighting for the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ community to take part in military service however they desire.
Smith is a supporter of another base closure round, a smaller role for the U.S. military in the world, and a smaller nuclear weapons arsenal. He opposed Trump’s proposed 355-ship Navy and has touted his votes to end building Northrop Grumman’s B-2 bomber and Lockheed Martin’s F-22 fighter.
As Republicans in the House shift to the minority, they’ll do so without two current House Armed Services Committee members. Oklahoma Rep. Steve Russell was upset in his re-election bid, and Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman — who led the committee’s personnel policy panel ― lost his seat, as well. Russell, whose district went to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, had worked to distance himself from Trump — over immigration, gun laws and Space Force.
The Senate lost two senior Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee: Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; and Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., the top Democrat on the SASC Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Trump had campaigned for their challengers among other Republicans across the country in recent weeks.
Amid all the changes, Congress will see some old faces with national security backgrounds return to Capitol Hill.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won an open Utah Senate seat. As a GOP presidential candidate in 2012, Romney supported boosting the Navy’s shipbuilding rate from nine per year to 15 per year and “a robust, multi-layered national ballistic-missile defense system.”
Obama and Clinton-era State Department official Tom Malinosky, ousted a four-term GOP incumbent in New Jersey. Malinowksi served as advocacy director at Human Rights Watch and later assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor under Obama.Military.com: Top US General Defends Deployment of Troops to Border as Legal

6 Nov 2018Military.com | By Matthew Cox
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke out Monday against several retired generals who have criticized the recent deployment of active-duty troops to the southwest border, countering that U.S. military leaders are following a "legal order" from President Donald Trump.
On Oct. 31, the Pentagon announced it would deploy roughly 5,200 active-duty troops to support Operation Faithful Patriot, a mission to reinforce U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in its effort to stop a large "caravan" of migrants approaching the United States from Central America.
In response, several high-ranking, retired U.S. generals criticized the use of active-duty forces as wasteful and unnecessary, The Washington Post reported.
"There [have] been a number of three- and four-stars who have publicly said and have used the words ‘wasteful and inappropriate’ and so forth, and they have the luxury of doing that; they are no longer in uniform," Gen. Joseph Dunford told an audience at Duke University during a speaking engagement Monday. "On the other hand, it’s not my job to assess the appropriateness of the mission. It’s my job to [assess] the legality of the mission and … the capability of our forces to perform that mission."
Trump tasked the U.S. military with providing logistical, transportation and medical support for the Department of Homeland Security’s border mission, Dunford said.
"When that comes to me as a military leader, I ask a couple of questions. One is, do we have unambiguous direction to what the soldiers … have to do? And the answer is yes," he said. "I understand exactly what they have to do, and they understand. Number two, is it legal? Yes, it is legal."
Dunford emphasized that the active-duty forces will not prevent migrants from entering the U.S.
"There is no plan for U.S. military forces to be involved in the actual mission denying people entry to the United States," he said. "There is no plan for soldiers to come in contact with immigrants or to reinforce Department of Homeland Security as they are conducting their mission.
"Again, despite the noise in the media right now for all the reasons that we know, I would just tell you that the soldiers that are down there on the border right now know exactly what they are doing, they know why they are doing it, and they have the proper training and the proper equipment to do it," Dunford said.NYT: Fight Against Last Vestige of ISIS in Syria Stalls, to Dismay of U.S.
AMMAN, Jordan — An American-backed military offensive has stalled against the Islamic State’s last vestige in eastern Syria.
Booby traps, land mines and a militant counterstrike during a fierce sandstorm after the campaign began in September have knocked the coalition back on its heels.
And last week, the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led militia that is fighting the Islamic State with American help, suspended operations after Kurdish positions farther north were shelled by Turkey — not far from United States advisers.
American diplomats and generals rushed to ease tensions with the Turks, who consider Kurdish fighters terrorists despite their partnership with the United States.
But the episode underscores the shifting nature of the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, a still-potent threat as it pivots from its battlefield losses in Iraq and Syria to directing guerrilla insurgencies in the Middle East and beyond.
“Although ISIS’s safe haven in Iraq and Syria has largely collapsed, its global enterprise of almost two dozen branches and networks, each numbering in the hundreds to thousands of members, remains robust,” Russell Travers, the acting head of the National Counterterrorism Center, told senators in Washingtonlast month.
Last week, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on buses carrying Coptic Christians to a monastery in Egypt, which killed seven people and wounded 19 others. Dutch officials said in late September that they foiled a large, multisite terroristIslamic State attack there.
In Jordan, state intelligence officials said they had worked closely with the C.I.A. to thwart more than a dozen terrorist plots in the past several months in the Middle East and Europe.
A classified American military program in Jordan, called Operation Gallant Phoenix, is scooping up data collected in commando raids in Syria and Iraq and funneling it to law enforcement agencies in Europe and Southeast Asia, according to United States military and intelligence officials who described details of the initiative on condition of anonymity because of its secretive nature.
In Afghanistan, the Islamic State’s local branch has conducted a spate of high-profile attacks against civilian and government targets in Kabul while carving out a sanctuary in the country’s east, Mr. Travers said. Other Islamic State affiliates in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Libya, Yemen and western Africa continue to mobilize fighters and execute attacks against local governments and group rivals, fomenting and leveraging instability in these already beleaguered areas.
“ISIS remains an adaptive and dangerous adversary, and is already tailoring its strategy to sustain operations amid mounting losses,” he said.
Other networks that are less formally aligned with the Islamic State, including extremists in other parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and the Philippines, continue to conduct attacks that showcase the group’s reach.
To be sure, thousands of Islamic State members — including senior leaders, veteran field commanders and foreign fighters — have been killed in United States airstrikes and partner actions. The extremist group now holds less than 1 percent of the territory it seized in Iraq and Syria in 2014, or about half the area of Manhattan.
But ISIS has reverted to its insurgent roots — an atomized, clandestine network of cells with a decentralized chain of command, Western and Middle Eastern counterterrorism officials said.
The move follows plans that the extremist network drew up in the months before its main strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, fell to coalition forces last year.
“We’ve expected that as the physical caliphate went away, the remnants of this would attempt to revive themselves and revive their networks, and take on these insurgent, guerrilla-like tactics,” Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the head of the military’s Central Command, said in an interview in Bahrain last week.
“We’re well prepared for that,” said General Votel, who oversees the American military in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. “These organizations never go away in one fell swoop.”
The number of foreign terrorist fighters, once pouring into Iraq and Syria at about 1,500 a month, has dropped sharply. But the Islamic State still attracts about 100 new foreign fighters to the region each month, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a meeting of military chiefs in October.
“On its current trajectory, ISIS could regain sufficient strength to mount a renewed insurgency that once again threatens to overmatch local security forces in both Iraq and Syria,” the Institute for the Study of War in Washington concluded in a recent analysis.
In Iraq, Islamic State sleeper cells in recent months have carried out raids and ambushes against Iraqi security forces and civilians, particularly in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin provinces.
And as the Islamic State hunkers down in Syria, including in caves and fortified tunnels in Hajin and a few surrounding villages in the Euphrates River Valley, it wields a diminished but still formidable social media prowess to rally its followers on the ground and on the internet.
“It is displaying its wins on its official online channels, including the alleged capture of enemy fighters and the killing and wounding of many others,” said Laith Alkhouri, a senior director at Flashpoint, a business risk intelligence company in New York that assesses the global terrorist threat.
“Its propaganda fronts still produce a range of high-quality content, including foreign language products that promote its evolving narrative of enduring resistance and vitality,” he said.
The fighting in Hajin and nearby villages, where militants hide amid some 60,000 residents, is some of the most intense since the coalition pushed the Islamic State out of Raqqa and Mosul, allied officials said.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has lost 327 fighters since the beginning of the military operation in September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain that monitors the war through contacts on the ground.
The Islamic State “has been avoiding direct clashes with our forces, relying on targeting with artillery and heavy weapons the obvious routes our fighters are forced to take in order to advance,” said Mustafa Bali, a militia spokesman.
In the last several days, hardened Islamic State fighters using small arms and mortars, and relying on a sandstorm as cover, counterattacked. They killed several militia troops and regained territory the extremist group had lost to the American-backed coalition a few days earlier.
The storm had grounded American and allied warplanes that support the militia on the battlefield — a vulnerability United States officials said ISIS fighters were keenly aware of and exploited. The militia rushed 1,000 more troops from northern Syria to the combat zone, joining the several thousand already there, a senior American official said.
Now, American and coalition officials said, the military offensive that was planned to be wrapped up by December looks like it will drag into early next year. And that was before Turkey, a NATO ally, attacked Kurdish positions in northern Syria, prompting Kurdish commanders to suspend its offensive against the Islamic State.
Mr. Bali said the pause would continue until the United States and its allies “stop the Turkish hostility and remove its threat.”
The offensive against the Islamic State in Syria has sputtered before.
Earlier this year, thousands of Kurdish fighters and commanders who make up the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces diverted to defend Afrin, in Syria’s northwest, where other Kurdish militia forces were facing sharp attacks from Turkish troops.
Last Friday, top Pentagon and State Department officials spoke to Turkish officials to defuse the latest tensions. After meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Washington, David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, “called for a halt of exchanges of fire in the area, and underscored the need for stability in northeast Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” according to a State Department statement.
On Sunday, United States troops patrolled northeastern Syria near the Turkish border in three armored vehicles, officials said, the second show of force aimed at easing tensions since Friday.
Allied warplanes, using a break in the weather over the weekend and noting that “ISIS let their guard down,” carried out a flurry of airstrikes against militant command centers over the weekend, Col. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the American-led command in Iraq, said in an email.
American officials said they were taking the long view of the fight against the Islamic State.
“We still are putting great pressure on them,” General Dunford said last month. “We’re denying them sanctuary from which to plan attacks.”Military.com: Allegations of Hazing Inside Marines’ Silent Drill Platoon; NCIS Investigating

6 Nov 2018Military.com | By Gina Harkins
One of the most high-profile platoons in the Marine Corps is under investigation for allegations of hazing, resulting in five Marines being sent to pretrial confinement.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking into hazing claims involving members of the Silent Drill Platoon, which is based at Marine Barracks Washington. The case was turned over to NCIS by the Marine Corps, according to a news release from the barracks issued Tuesday.
The command was made aware of the allegations Oct. 31 and immediately began an investigation, according to a Marine official with knowledge of the incident. By Friday, the investigation had been turned over to NCIS, added the official, who spoke to Military.com on the condition of anonymity.
"As far as why, at this point in time due to the fact that it’s an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate to give out any specifics about why," the official said. "It remains an open investigation with NCIS."
Five Marines were sent to pretrial confinement as a result of the investigation. One of those Marines has since been released and is back at the barracks, the official said. The four remaining in pretrial confinement have initial hearings scheduled this week.
Marine Barracks Washington is cooperating with the NCIS investigation, according to the release.
All of the Silent Drill Platoon’s upcoming performances have been canceled.
"That decision was obviously not made lightly," the Marine official said. "… They definitely look forward to performing their drill expedition in the near future."
The Marine Corps expects all personnel to "to uphold the highest standards of conduct," the release states.
"The Marines at the Barracks take pride in their daily duties and their reputation in the community, which was demonstrated in September when Marines helped first responders rescue and provide aid for our neighbors when an apartment complex caught fire," it adds.
The hazing allegations come less than three years after a pattern of hazing and mistreatment was found at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina following the death of a 20-year-old recruit there.
The Marine Corps’ Silent Drill Platoon, a 24-person team, performs for hundreds of thousands of spectators annually during events in Washington, D.C.; across the country; and abroad. The highly selective platoon is associated with discipline and professionalism.
Infantry Marines selected to serve with the Silent Drill Platoon typically complete two-year tours at Marine Barracks Washington.
This summer, about 100 Marines from the barracks made dozens of trips into and out of a building that was on fire in Washington, D.C. The Marines helped evacuate bedridden and paralyzed seniors from their apartment complex as it burned.

If you map out your discounts right, you could eat free all day on Veterans Day and the day after, in between shopping for some deals and booking some discounted travel.
Since Veterans Day falls on Sunday, it’s also observed on Monday, Nov. 12, as a day off for many. So as you make your plans, pay attention to the date the discount or deal is being offered. Also, some are not limited to this weekend.Discounts and freebies are plentiful, and we’ve collected some to get you started. We know that military discounts are not what Veterans Day is really about; most of these businesses say it’s just their way of offering a small token of their appreciation of your service.
You shouldn’t feel compelled to buy extra stuff to get the freebie or discount.
Before you head over to that favorite eatery to get the discount or freebie, save yourself some frustration with a little planning:

Remember that “free" isn’t always completely free. The free meal doesn’t always include a beverage, for instance, so be prepared to pay for that and other extras.

Always call ahead to your local restaurant or business to make sure they’re participating in any national programs. Double-check what they’re offering, and ask if there are limited hours or quantities. Always confirm what proof of service they require.

Most of these offers apply to service members past and present, not just those currently serving on active duty…. but not all offers. Be sure you are eligible and you have the required identification or paperwork.

Most restaurant deals are dine-in only. When you arrive, let your server or host know up front that you want the discount or deal.

Many discounts don’t apply to the entire party. Be sure to clarify whether family members or guests are covered.

FOOD AND DRINKApplebee’s: Get a free, full-size entrée from a special menu with eight selections, on Nov. 11 at participating restaurants. Active duty and other veterans are eligible, with proof of service such as military ID, DD-214, membership card from a veterans organization, etc. The restaurant chain’s goal is to serve 1 million free meals to veterans.Chipotle: Buy one, get one free from open to close on Nov. 11. The offer applies to burritos, bowls, salads and taco orders. Active duty, Guard and Reserve members, military spouses and retirees are eligible, with valid ID. Limit one free menu item per military ID.Cracker Barrel Old Country Store: Get a choice of a free slice of Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake or a Crafted Coffee beverage on Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans are eligible.Denny’s: Get a free Build Your Own Grand Slam from 5 a.m. to noon, Nov. 12, at participating restaurants. Eligible are active, Guard and Reserve, retirees and other veterans. Must show military ID or DD-214.Dunkin’ Donuts: Get one free doughnut at participating restaurants, on Sunday, Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans are eligible.Fatz Southern Kitchen: Free Calabash Chicken basket on Monday, Nov. 12. Also, 25 percent off the entrée on each visit to Fatz through Nov. 30. Active duty and other veterans are eligible, with proof of service. Fatz operates 38 restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, and they’ll be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Nov. 12.Golden Corral: Get a free dinner buffet with beverage from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12. Available to active duty, Guard and Reserve members, retirees and other veterans. Identification is not required.Kolache Factory: Get a free kolache and a free coffee on Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans are eligible with a government-issued military photo ID.Little Caesars: Get a free $5 Hot-N-Ready Lunch combo, which includes four slices of pizza, with a 20-ounce drink, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans are eligible, with proof of service such as military ID, DD-214 or an ID card with veteran designation.Red Lobster: Get a free appetizer (six choices) or dessert (five choices) from a special menu on Sunday, Nov. 11 and Monday, Nov. 12. Active duty, Guard and Reserve and other veterans are eligible with proof of service.Scooter’s Coffee: Get a free drink, any size, on Nov. 11. Currently serving military personnel and other veterans are eligible, with proof of service.Sheetz: Get a free six-inch turkey sub and a regular size fountain drink, on Nov. 11. Locations offering car washes will also provide a free car wash. Active duty and other veterans are eligible with military ID or other proof of service.SweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt: Get a free 12-ounce frozen yogurt on Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans are eligible, with a military ID.TooJay’s: Get a free entree from a special menu featuring 13 different items on Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans are eligible. TooJay’s restaurants are in various Florida locations.ENTERTAINMENTCity of Buena Park, California: Get discounts on attractions, hotels and meals during November and December at a variety of locations in this city, which is near Disneyland, The Queen Mary, and others. Details on specific deals and eligibility rules are available here, for places like Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park, Pirate’s Dinner Adventure dinner show, Medieval Times, and Bowers Museum.Globus: Save 10 percent on select Globus 2019 North America Tours, plus an extra $100 off per person, if booked by Nov. 16. Active and retired military personnel are eligible, with verification through Sheer ID.LEGOLAND Florida Resort: Get free admission, free parking, and hotel discounts, during the month of November. In addition, those eligible can purchase theme park tickets for up to six guests at a 50 percent discount. Those eligible are active duty and other veterans. Proof of service is required at the ticket window on the day of visit. Those eligible can save up to 25 percent at the Florida LEGOLAND Resort on certain dates during November. Proof of service required at check-in.National Corvette Museum: Throughout November, get free admission to the museum, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Veterans as well as police and firefighters are eligible, as well as their accompanying family members. Show proof of service at the admissions counter.Vet Tix: Get tickets to sporting events, concerts, performing arts, educational and family activities across the nation, year-round. A small delivery fee is required to receive the free tickets. All currently serving military, veterans, and their family members, and immediate family members of troops killed in action are eligible for tickets through this nonprofit organization.HOTELS/RESORTSHyatt: Get a discounted rate of between 10 and 15 percent off the stay at any participating Hyatt-branded hotel in the U.S., with offer code MILVET*. This new offer is in effect indefinitely. Active duty and other veterans and their immediate family members are eligible. Guests must make their reservation here or through a Global Contract Center, and indicate their intention to book using the veteran and military rate. At check-in, proof of service is required, such as a valid ID or DD-214.Kentucky State Parks: Discounted rates on lodge rooms and cottages at 17 resort parks, plus cottages at John James Audubon State Park, through March 31, 2019. Active duty, Guard and Reserve and other veterans are eligible with proof of service at check-in. Rates start at $59.95 for a lodge room, and start at $99.95 for a three-bedroom cottage. Click here for the winter schedule of the parks. Use promo code USA when booking online ). If booking by phone, mention the USA military discount to receive special rate.Super 8 by Wyndham: Get a 20 percent discount at participating Super 8 hotels in the U.S. and Canada, through Dec. 11. Active duty, retired and other veterans are eligible. Military identification must be provided at time of check-in.RETAILBuckle.com: Get 10 percent off purchases all year, plus free shipping Nov. 5 through Nov. 20 on jeans, shirts and footwear. Active duty, retirees and other veterans and immediate family members eligible; verification through SheerID.Eyemart Express: Get a 20 percent discount on eyewear purchase at any Eyemart Express, Vision4Less, Visionmart Express or Eyewear Express store, through Nov. 17. Active duty and other veterans and their families are eligible, with proof of service.Grand Trunk: Get a 30 percent discount off entire web site, discount available for life after registration. Those eligible are active, Guard and Reserve members, retirees and other veterans. The retailer sells a variety of items such as hammocks, travel items, and holiday items.Helzberg Diamonds: Get one-time 10 percent discount in store or online or at 800-435-9237. Eligible are active duty, retirees, disabled veterans and dependents. Verification through SheerID.Holt’s Cigar Co. : Get a 10 percent discount through this continuing program, online and by phone, 800-523-1641. Those eligible are active duty, Guard and Reserve, retirees and other veterans. Verification through SheerID.Ocean State Job Lot : Get a 25 percent discount on most products in these discount retail stores, from Nov. 8 through Nov. 14. All active duty, Guard and Reserve members, and other veterans and their family members are eligible, with proof of service such as an ID card or state-issued license with military or veteran designation. The retail chain has 131 stores in New England, New York and New Jersey, with everything from clothing, baking supplies and bird food to rugs.Sears Garage Doors: Get a 10 percent discount on any product or service from Nov. 9 through Nov. 12. Available to those with valid ID.Tommy Hilfiger: Get a 15 percent discount year-round. Active duty, Guard, Reserve, military spouses, retirees and other veterans are eligible. Verification through SheerID.Tractor Supply Company: Get a 15 percent discount of entire purchase on Nov. 11. Active duty and other veterans, with military ID or proof of service, and their dependents are eligible. The company has more than 1,750 locations nationwide, offering a variety of products for caring for home, land, pets and animals.SERVICESAmerican Family Care: Get a free flu shot on Nov. 11. Available to veterans with proof of service.Ancestry.com: Through Nov. 12, the collection of more than 250 million military records will be available for free to the public, not just Ancestry members. The collection includes draft cards, service records and prisoner and casualty lists.SmileDirectClub: Get $200 off a purchase of an invisible aligner, Nov. 9 through Nov. 12. Available to active duty and other veterans with proof of service. Visit one of their 150 SmileShop locations around the country.Word Among Us: Two years of digital subscription of readings and meditations, free for active duty, $9.99 for Guard, Reserve and veterans (80 percent discount.) Verification through SheerID.

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American Legion Preamble

For God and Country we associate ourselves together for the following purposes:
to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the great wars; to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community,state and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and goodwill on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.